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2008-04-06T23:48:00.000+08:00

I Blog

LEVERAGE

2007-04-30T22:34:00.000+08:00

–noun
1. the action of a lever.
2. the mechanical advantage or power gained by using a lever.
3. power or ability to act or to influence people, events, decisions, etc.; sway: Being the only industry in town gave the company considerable leverage in its union negotiations.
4. the use of a small initial investment, credit, or borrowed funds to gain a very high return in relation to one's investment, to control a much larger investment, or to reduce one's own liability for any loss. –verb (used with object)
5. to exert power or influence on.
6. to provide with leverage.
7. to invest or arrange (invested funds) using leverage.

Leverage1.

The use of various financial instruments or borrowed capital, such as margin, to increase the potential return of an investment. 2. The amount of debt used to finance a firm's assets. A firm with significantly more debt than equity is considered to be highly leveraged.Leverage helps both the investor and the firm to invest or operate. It, however, comes with greater risk. If an investor uses leverage to make an investment and the investment moves against the investor, his or her loss is much greater amount than it would've been if the investment were not leveraged - leverage magnifies not only gains but also losses. In the business world, a company can use leverage to generate shareholder wealth, but if it is fails to do so, the interest expense and credit risk of default destroys shareholder value.

Investopedia Commentary1.

Leverage can be created through options, futures, margin and other financial instruments. For example, say you have $1,000 to invest. This amount could be invested in 10 shares of Microsoft stock, but to increase leverage, you could invest the $1,000 in, say, five options contracts. You would then control 500 shares rather than 10.2.

Most companies use debt to finance operations. By doing so a company increases its leverage because it can invest in business operations without increasing its equity. For example if a company formed with an investment of $5 million from investors, the equity in the company is $5 million and this is the money it uses to operate. If the company uses debt financing by borrowing $20 million, the company now has $25 million to invest in business operations, and more opportunity to increase value for shareholders.

- Definitions from Dictionary.com

TOTO

2007-03-03T09:51:00.000+08:00

Basket.. did not win the $10 million jackpot..

Pesky customers... keep calling me on a saturday morning.. and also the word verification for posting a blog in Blogger.. test my reading capacity izzit..

Do you have a plan for this saturday? YEs I do. I am planning to enjoy it. Some people simply decide that today is going to suck. They start the day off with I am going to hate today and everything is going to be terrible for me today and I might as well flush myself down the toilet bowl...

Thank You

2007-03-03T09:47:00.000+08:00

Thank you all who visited my blog.

Distance

2006-10-20T20:52:00.000+08:00

We are separated by distance, divided by seas and torn apart by circumstances. How we met was pure coincidence, how we got together was a mystery, how we continued was sheer preseverance.

=== Work ===
Should I continue my current job? It is pressurizing and tiring. It was fun travelling from offices to offices, interacting with new clients and working in different environments on a regular basis. Now, I find it tiring and endless deadlines in front of me. It is like running a hurdles race with no ending. You have to keep on running and jumping over the hurdles. You have to jump over the hurdle in any way you can and prepare yourself for the next one. Life probably takes on a similar route, only that in my career, the hurdles come thick and fast. I can jump over them or opt out. Am I the sort to give up easily? Stay tune.

=== Fantasy ===
I found myself walking down memory lane whenever I feel down. Memories are lovely.
Eg: In a nice cooling 17 degrees celsius, walking down Chinatown to Brisbane city after a night of supper and a round of mahjong is simply heavenly. Enjoy the coolness of the winter air, the quietness of the neighbourhood and the stillness of an early morning. With a nice bunch of mates to complete the picture, life is blissfull. Upon reaching the city, head straight to the casino to grab a hot drink and a round of bacarrat before hitting the sack to get enough rest for the next day's endeavors.
Eg: Byron Bay is perhaps the best place I have been to so far. It is the most easterly point of the Australian continent. The view is absolutely magnificent. Visit the place at twil-light and experience the awesome sign of night transiting into day at the break of dawn. Stand on the high cliffs, with the light house behind you and feel the waves splashing onto the rocks beneath. Imagine whales crossing* in the not so distance ocean ahead... what an overwhelming sight...

But.. that is only fantasy now...

*Whales migrate northwards from the end of June to August to breed in the warm nothern waters. Then in September to October, they return with their babies, sometimes stopping in the Bay for a break and to teach their babies some life skills.

Would You?

2006-08-23T21:20:00.000+08:00

Would you travel with me to the end of the world and watch the sun go down? Accompany on that fateful winter night listening to the sound of snowflakes. Waiting intending for some magical wonders to happen. There it is, a celestial phenomenon of lights and colour. It is the northern lights or aurora.

"No pencil can draw it, no colours can paint it and no words can describe it in all its magnificence."

On that romantic night, I watch the world's most beautiful display of lights with you. It comes in shades of red, green and yellow. Wearing thick winter clothings, we cuddle up like two polar bears...

4.. 3.. 2.. 1..

2006-07-17T01:46:00.000+08:00

4 destinations

Hongkong - Macau - Singapore - Malaysia

3 modes of transport

Sea - Air - Land

2 travellers

W & R

1 day

1pm 16 July - 1 pm 17 July

Remembering

2006-06-16T21:56:00.000+08:00

The way not to forget things is to write it down.

That's what I was told on the morning show on ChannelNewsAsia this morning. Ponder, ponder... that's what blogs are for isn't it? Occassionally, I would flipped the pages to read blog entries I had written in the past.

There are notable differences in the tone the entries were expressed. In the beginning, the entries were bubbly, warm and carefree. That was during my army times. During the period I was in Australia, the entries were loud exclamations about what I did in an interesting land, the entries were shorter and perhaps signifies a lazier me. This year, the entries took another tone ; tired and dare I say it - all grown up.

It was nice reminiscing the past. Memory lane has never been sweeter.

West Coast Workout

2006-06-07T22:36:00.000+08:00

: : The Pyramid : :

: : The Gardens : :

: : The Man : :

: : The Building : :

: : The Smile : :

Six Months

2006-05-26T00:35:00.000+08:00

Of what value are six months to you?

Are you young and plentiful; you have lots of time in front of you and time is a red carpet you take your time to thread on.

Are you moving in the busiest period of your life; on the expressway with exits you cannot take, in a lane you cannot change.

How do you see six months of time?

If you are down with a terminal disease, six months are magnified and regarded with such importance a single day cannot be wasted. If you are without direction, six months are no different from the past six hours or the next six days.

How do I see my past six months and the next six? The past six months are like an expressway and I hope to see rest points in the next six.

Some Pictures

2006-05-21T09:54:00.000+08:00

Here's a little update today. These are pictures taken from V Tea Room at the Esplanade.

This plate of melted something cost a neat $19. Don't ever try the cake there...

The tea remains good though. A cuppa peach something-I-don't-really-remember-wotitis..

A nice little tea room but the prices could do with some revision...

找不到方向

2006-04-24T00:39:00.000+08:00

I saw shooting stars yesterday; the second time in Singapore. It was a bright and long one, just off the main road going to Marina South. Dribing towards marina South, after the expressway exit, there is an entrance to a parking space for trailers. The area is dark and makes for a good spot to look up to the night sky.

Whoa! Sure bo?

2006-03-28T22:12:00.000+08:00

Time passes so fast when you are busy. It is like, yesterday's Monday, Tuesday is ending, tomorrow's Wednesday. Oh my! Have I planned for my Friday and Saturday? I am in danger of being sucked in by my work. I suppose that is ok if you are in your first year of work? Well, there is no user guide to your job is there?

Many questions with little answers. Things will straighthen out some time...

And yes, not forgetting the generous payout announced by Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lee Hsien Loong. It was dubbed an 'Election Payout'. I see it as what the government intended it to be, to share part of the government's surpluses with Singaporeans. So quit whining and just take it! And oh, do you know you could donation your share to charities if you feel that you do not deserve it? Log on to www.progress.gov.sg for more details.

I just bought a new phone last week. A spanking Nokia 6280. Pictures coming up in a while. How about a little review about the phone while I am at it. The phone looks cool, stylish and great for young executives (er herm..). It comes with a 2 mega pixel camera and the screen looks great. Picture quality is great at daylight but night shots are filled with particles. Memory can be expanded to at least 1 GB. I had conflicting reports with another vendor quoting 2 GB. My phone runs on a 1GB stick. The ususal Bluetooth, 3G and infra technology can be found on the phone as well. The phone also comes with a free Bluetooth headset. The sound is barely audible for me and it would take someone of sharp hearing to get anything out of the headset. It could just be deafy me if you had that headset and it sounds good. Well, let me know and I will change the headset. I would really love to use one although the headset doesn't feel really comfortable on the ears.

My work schedule this week is filled up already. I foresee next week to be equally busy as well. I don't know if it is good, but ever since I joined this company, I have been working non-stop. New projects over-lap one another and I don't get any breaks between projects. I am currently implementing 2 projects while the previous 2 had not been closed yet. I will be at Bukit Merah and Chinatown tomorrow and for most of this week. Running about so many places gives me great exposure to the freight forwarding industry. Anyone wanna be in the freight forwarding industry? I could certainly recommend you a few places.

The world is big and I had only seen so much. Genting, Macau, Hongkong and Guangzhou this year. Not much leave left for a super holiday package. Taiwan or Australia anyone? Thailand also can.

What~!@?

2006-03-07T21:40:00.000+08:00

It has been a month since my last post. Oh my.. do you still call this a blog? Hmm...

It has been a busy month for me, just as it was the month before. Work has certainly taken its toll on my blog's productivity rate. I would arrive home at 9pm at night and after a nice warm bathe, I don't have the jest to write anything interesting (I suppose when you write once a month, anything is news).

That doesn't mean I don't have a life now though. I have been going out on every of my weekend and most of the times, Saturday's activities spilt over to Sunday and I hardly get the extended hours of sleep I desire on my days off work. Work is sometimes fustrating, often stressful and always time-consuming. Fustrating being unable to answer client's questions with my limited knowledge of my work. Stressful being me entering my company's peak period and there is endless work everyday. Time-consuming as my working hours frequently extends beyond my official hours of 9:30am to 6:3pm.

Complaining? Maybe.

More of a concern is where this job is taking me. In my mind, it is pretty clear. Work a year and switch to a higher paying job with less OT. While working overtime comes with any job when it is peak period, the problem in my current job is that everyday is peak period. With me moving from new clients to new clients, I don't see any letting off of my work load.

What's good about my job? I get to meet lots of people. Good ones, bad ones. Some became friends while some are an eyesore. Hmm.. cant wait to take leave and have a break.

Queen St

2006-02-06T21:13:00.000+08:00

I woke up and found myself pretty hungry. I checked out the other room and found Michael still asleep. I woke him up as I was really really hungry and knew that it would be an hour before my teeth sink into any decent kind of food.

He woke up looking pretty shagged. I then decided to sing a song to wake him up. I picked up my Lipton bottle and sang to Jolin's <>. No to be ousted, Michael did his best impersonation of Guang Liang's <>. Together, it is <>.

After that crazy moment, it was time to wake up the rest of the guys. First call to Shawn, he woke up hours ago. He had just finished lunch with Edward in the city. Jasper is coming to meet them. I told them to wait while me and Michael take the bus to the city.

After lunch, we were pondering what to do. Casino? Arcade? Snooker?

Casino sounds tempting but the consequences were clear. Arcade is a safe option and provides entertainment worth its dollar value. Snooker was best left for the life when it could be predicted that we have dinner in Chinatown or Sunnybank.

We chose arcade and proceed to battling cars(Daytona or Maximu Tune 2) and terrorists (Ghost Squad). Time past by so fast when you are having fun. It was night time again and time to make the critical decision: Where to have dinner?. Chinatown seems a little boring while Sunnybank was too far. Such meetings usually takes up a bit of time and by the end of the discussion, we were all hungry enough to accept anything.

Dinner settled, we were ready to face all the challenges again, except that it was already 10:30pm and all the shops were closed, saved for the pubs which we were never interested in. It is mahjong at our place then.

*Home Sweet Home*

We played till the next morning and we were all beat tired. The guys left at around 7am and we returened to bed. We will wake up ready to face another day of challenges.

New Year

2006-02-01T23:48:00.000+08:00

I saw the greeting message in the MRT today --> "SMRT wishes you a Happy Lunar New Year"

Is 'Lunar' the correct word to use inside of 'Chinese'? I think so. But do you think it is because of political reason? It is like the 'new year' is for the Chinese only. But come to think of it, it is wat! The Malays have Hari Raya while the Indians have Deepavali.

Raw fish anyone?

Update

2006-01-25T22:44:00.000+08:00

An update into my job..

My working hours are from 9:30am to 6:30pm but I stayed till 7:30pm on occassions and reached home only at 9pm. That was when I was returning home from my client's office. One of my client's place is at Changi Aiprort and getting home from the other side of Singapore takes a hell lot of time. I have to take 3 buses and travel the whole length of the train line to get back.

That was for a period of time and I am almost done with the client now. Which means I do not have to travel to their office till they meet with a disaster with our program (like if using our software blew up their computers). I foresee the next 2 weeks to be relatively peacefull and I can stay in my office to do up the user manual.

Chinese New Year is around the corner and I hope the new year brings something different to everyone like I predict it is going for me. I see this year as the one which I begin my career. When I get rich in future, I would look back and say this is the year which I began my success from. It would be wrong to discount the years before my first year of work as that were the building blocks on which I am able to do what I do now. But to include years which I was not totally concern about building a career would not be an accurate assessment.

Have a good (dog) year.

Work, Work, Work

2006-01-16T22:47:00.000+08:00

It's just work nowadays..

A little boring don't you think?

But there's always time to post a short entry.

Take care people

Great Day

2006-01-15T23:02:00.000+08:00

Absolutely enjoyable day today. Went for massage, eat cheap and tasty road stall food, all accomplished with minimal spending.

As you can see, I have a new skin for my blog. And I realised my sister had a new skin on her blog as well. The theme of the new skin is 'Smoke and Fire'. Hmm.. do you see any smoke or fire in the blog? Haha.. never mind..

Sundays

2006-01-08T09:46:00.000+08:00

It is a rainy Sunday.

I wish I am back in Brisbane..

It may seem like disrespect for my friends and family here but it is not the case. I wish you could come with me, but not everyone is willing to leave their life here and migrate to another country. I am currently working in a small software firm. There is nothing wrong with that firm except that it is so small in scale in every aspect of their business. They have a small office producing a small software that they sell to small clients. Every company starts small and I wish it can expand to be a medium size enterprise in the future.

I look forward to sitting in a plane again. Although I don't like sitting in a plane but that guarantees a new place when I step out of it. My targetted destinations for this year are Thailand, Hongkong and if possible Taiwan, England or Australia. Oh.. what I would give to fly out on wings again..

May I present to you.. Boo. No offence to anyone with the same namesake.

Saturdays

2006-01-07T14:29:00.000+08:00

What do people do on Saturdays?

I don't know, but I sure ain't going to waste it.

Cairns 3

2006-01-04T21:40:00.000+08:00

Cairns 2

2006-01-01T19:58:00.000+08:00

Cairns1

2005-12-29T10:41:00.000+08:00

Hi guys, I have found a job and will begin working on the first working day of the new year.

Position: IT Support
Location: Pasir Panjang, Science Park II
Company description: A small software solutions firm selling their own software that deals with logistics (sea and air freighting)
Paycheck: Decent enough to make me accept my first serious job offer
Working hours: Mon-Fri 9:30am to 6pm, Sat:half-day
Job Description: Providing mainly software and some hardware support to clients using the firm's software. Requires me to travel to client's office to either install, coach or troubleshoot issues relating to the software.

Sydney 3

2005-12-28T12:29:00.000+08:00

NKF

2005-12-27T11:13:00.000+08:00

"Mr Durai was rewarded financially, it appears, principally on the basis of the success of the NKF in fund raising. With this motivation, the NKF's most visible efforts over time shifted from the provision of affordable medical relief for kidney dialysis patients to fund raising, in which the foundation proved highly successful." - Quoted from KPMG's report "A Report on The National Kidney Foundation" Section 1.6.8.

Sydney 2

2005-12-26T11:54:00.000+08:00

Sydney 1

2005-12-23T13:48:00.000+08:00

Melbourne V

2005-12-20T20:35:00.000+08:00

Melbourne IV

2005-12-19T10:21:00.000+08:00

Melbourne III

2005-12-17T02:35:00.000+08:00

Melbourne II

2005-12-10T03:51:00.000+08:00

Day 2

Melbourne

2005-12-07T16:06:00.000+08:00

Day 1

Singaporean

2005-12-05T23:33:00.000+08:00

After digging to a depth of 100 meters last year, Russian scientists havefound traces of copper wire dating back 1000 years, and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network one thousand years ago.

So, not to be outdone, in the weeks that followed, American scientists dug 200 meters and headlines in the US papers read: "US scientists have found traces of 2000 year old optical fibers, and have concluded that their ancestors already had advanced high-tech digital telephone 1000 years earlier than the Russians."

One week later, the Singapore newspapers reported the following: "After digging as deep as 500 meters, Singapore scientists have found absolutely nothing. They have concluded that 5000 years ago, their ancestors were already using wireless technology.Proud to be a Singaporean ...

Itienerary

2005-11-25T12:11:00.000+08:00

===================================================
Melbourne
===================================================
20th November - First day of the trip. Arrive in Melbourne
21th November - Great Ocean Road day trip
22th November - Puffing Billy Dandenongs day trip - Travel aboard Australia's oldest steam train.
23th November - Free and easy in city of Melbourne
24th November - Penguin/Kangaroos/Koala tour

===================================================
Sydney
===================================================
25th November - Arrive in Sydney <---- Currently here
26th November - Free and easy in Sydney
27th November - Visit Canberra
28th November - Blue Mountains day trip

===================================================
Cairns
===================================================
29th November - Arrive in Cairns
30th November - Scuba diving in Great Barrier Reef
1st December - Arrive at Fitzroy Island
2nd December - Free and easy at Fitzroy Island
3rd December - Return to Cairns from Fitzroy Island
4th December - Quad bike adventure at Cairns
5th December - Kuranda All Inclusive day trip - Last day of the trip. Return to Brisbane in the evening

******************************************************************

As you can see from the schedule above. I should be in Sydney and I am, but what a start to the day here. It began raining as I got off the plane and got heavier as I reached the city. Not the best of starts.

I am now in a cybercafe blogging this entry. The photographs from the Melbourne trip are all loaded in my friend's laptop as I had not brought mine. It would have made no difference even if I had. My laptop is spoilt, damn, on the second last day before I was due to fly to Melbourne. Just thank goodness that it lasted till after all the projects, reports and examinations.

So well, no photographs for now. I guess you have to wait till the 5th of December to see them when I get back to Brisbane.

The trip has so far been good and the day tours in Melbourne were an eye-opener. Touring Sydney for the second time, I hope it would be as good as the first. Going to Cairns next week for more sunshine and the beaches (it was really cold in Melbourne).

I will try to blog again in Cairns if possible. Till then, enjoy the weeks leading up to Christmas. Cheers.

Family

2005-10-31T01:13:00.000+08:00

Families are not 'natural' objects or unities; they are spaces of concern wherein human actors are defined as subjects of their own actions." - Varela 1989: 22

Do your love your spaces? I do.

Be good

2005-10-27T02:42:00.000+08:00

Encouraging words work best with me.

Exam Time

2005-10-24T03:47:00.000+08:00

It has been sometime hasn't it? Well, what have I been doing? I have been busy with my school work of course. The last project was submited last Friday and I had been enjoying myself ever since. Haha.

Been driving around for a bit. Rented a car and went to Byron Bay, stopped by Gold Coast and went to see some glow worms. Really nice. That was a decent outing. Now for the serious stuff.

Exams start next week. It doesn't seems like a big deal really. This semester's work was mainly project based and makes the final papers more of a "how good a grade can I get" instead of a "will I pass this unit?" kind of thing.

Holidays is 3 weeks away but really, the time here seems like a long vacation to me. Studying is just part of the enjoyment that comes with this long and extraordinary vacation.

I had dinner at a Singaporean style cafe yesterday. The mee pok was really nice. Quite authentic too. The dessert needs more work though. To complete the day, I won a bit at the casino.

Time to start studying now. I love it.

Me, Myself and I

2005-10-15T23:19:00.000+08:00

I love myself, and I know you guys love me too. Thanks for that.

Lets start from the room mostly commonly accessed by me after my bedroom..

A little dark.. not much lighting from this angle. I guess the flash isn't working in this shot...

Here are more pictures to help brighten your day!

Check out the cool interior of my bathroom. Glass panel door~

This is getting a little out of hand. But it is alrigh isn't it? I seldom run pictures of myself with just myself!

See what happens when a guy gets hold of a digital camera..

Sheesh... this is no end to this is there?

And the thing is.. it's only my head!

Here's a little close up... hmm.. the hair needs a little colour....

Well... I am sure most of the readers would have been gone by now....

Friendster

2005-10-14T14:29:00.000+08:00

Been getting friend requests from people I do not know. They are mostly second degree friends but still some way from being mine. I wonder why they want to be in my list or want me in their list if they do not me.

Wierd? Not quite.

Read from the net that there are people renting out caves. Yep. They spent half their life digging holes on hills and then renting them out for USD$5 per night or USD$25 per month. The intention is to promote the little town's tourism. The wonderful guy behind that idea believes that such a business would catch up with visitors. Well.. anyone want a non-smoking cave?

Hi

2005-10-13T04:59:00.000+08:00

Thanks for the encouraging words..

I will try my best to get myself attached. Haha.

Sour

2005-10-11T22:25:00.000+08:00

I was walking home with 3 of my friends when one of them got a phone call from his girlfriend. He fall back the line to have a private conversation with her.

I thought, oh well.. that's alright. You got to respect that guy's privacy.

I was walking with 2 of my friends now. One from each gender.

Then one of them managed to call her boyfriend. She had been calling him for a couple of times beforehand. Oh, well.. one less friend to talk to. I still have the other one.

It was then when I turn to the other side when I found him on the phone with his girlfriend already. All three of them are having phone conversations with their other half. Me? I was walking alone in front of the pack..

ITB 999

2005-10-09T10:42:00.000+08:00

Of all units(subjects) I had chosen in QUT, the best unit comes in the form of ITB 999 - Fundamentals of Making Friends in Australia.

Lectures are conducted on a daily basis and full attendence is required. Tutorials occurs once in a while testing one's capabilities to turn nasty scenarios into happy endings. Surprise tests are conducted occassionally to test one's integrity and character. There is no final examination because the unit does not have an ending.

To selected students of ITB 999:

To Ely: I really miss those meetings too. Those jokes, those laughter. I really enjoyed working with you. There is going to be one last meeting for ITB 264 but I am sure that wouldn't be the last one for ITB 999.

To Shawn: Thanks for choosing to sit besides me during enrolment. It was the start of a friendship that I foresee would blossom into a long-standing relationship.

To Michael: I never really know you till we worked on projects together. You are resourceful and knowledgeable. Look forward to playing mahjong together when we get back to Singapore, and of course the year end trip around Australia.

To Annie: It was great working with you too. If questions give birth to genius like Thomas Edison, I am sure you are not lagging far behind. Hehe.

To all students of ITB 999: Thanks for participating in this course. You do not know the impact you had on my life. Sometimes, I also do not realise the impact I had made on yours. If I had made you sad or angry, I apologise. If I had made you laugh, I want you to know that you gave me happy moments and sweet memories too.

Disappointed

2005-10-08T18:56:00.000+08:00

Today was a hectic day spent in school. I had a presentation that was to be delivered as a group effort and my group members were really up for it. We had prepared our proposal and was all set and ready to go................

Days before today....................

The date of the client-consultation presentation draws nearer and is down to the last week of presentation. The pressure was on for a complete proposal worthy enough to win us a 'contract' with the 'clients'.

Today.............................

We did not win the contract and I must admit I was a tad disappointed. I didn't really hope to be the winning team but thought.... well... we could have won it. The night before, I was really rushing to make last minute changes to the proposal, making sure everything was alright, no spelling mistakes, tables are labeled, the format remains consistent.. blah blah...

I say this is the most difficult project I had ever undertaken. It was also the most fun too. I enjoyed the rehersals we had. I enjoyed the regular meetings. I enjoyed every bit of conversations in those meetings. I am going to miss moments like this when I return to Singapore. I must also say that the emotions felt in the aftermath of the presentation was the greatest amongst all project I had done. Well, perhaps it was the level of expectation that I had of this project. I felt that the team had done a great job in the proposal. If the entire project lies on this proposal, I am sure we would get a really decent score. But of course in the real world, it is the presentation of your idea that determine the continuation of it. No unaccepted ideas would gain further finance.

Still on the disappointed bit.. haiz... it is like months of preparation for this moment and you get a rejection in the end. My thoughts flew to the bidders of the integrated resort in Singapore. Such a massive project would involve a significant amount of money, people and effort. Relationships between colleagues would be strenthen, new bonds would be established and emotions will run high. Imagine the disappointments from the teams that failed to win the projects. Is losing part of the job a consultant has to be prepared for? There can always only be one winner. But a consultant cannot refuse to bid for a job because he does not have 100% guarantee of winning the job. It is tough..

New stuff

2005-10-01T16:35:00.000+08:00

New month. New post. New haircut.

Check this out ->

<-- My new spunky hair style -->

Madagascar II

2005-09-27T23:54:00.000+08:00

I got another toy in Alex, the lion in the show Madagascar. Took me a couple of attempts this time before I succeeded.

Alex

Alex and Mr Tux

This week is my mid-semester break and I am spending it on doing projects, rushing reports and preparing for presentations. What an exciting life! I am simply enjoying it! Oh, did I mention about my end of year holiday preparations? I had booked a snorkelling trip upgradable to a diving one. Fancy diving in the Great Barrier Reef! It is going to cost a bomb though. Anyone interested in sponsoring me?

Introducing..

2005-09-24T19:09:00.000+08:00

Brisbane Internationl Airpork

That's Edward, Sis, Shawn.

That's still Edward, Sis, Shawn.

Where am I?

Holidays

2005-09-20T07:02:00.000+08:00

Virgin Blue
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20th November Morning Depart Brisbane
20th November Morning Arrive Melbourne

Itinerary in Melbourne: Visit Great Ocean Road. See the Twelve Apostles located on the eastern seaboard of Australia off the city of Melbourne. Play a round of poker in Melbourne's Crown Casino.

Qantas
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25th November Morning Depart Melbourne
25th November Morning Arrive Sydney

Itinerary in Sydney: Visit Blue Mountains(again). Visit Canberra. Visit Ben.

Virgin Blue
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29th November Morning Depart Sydney
29th November Morning Arrive Cairns

Itinerary in Cairns: Go snorkelling at Great Barrier Reefs. Sun tan on the beaches of Cairns. Go on day tour to explore the city of Cairns.

JetStar
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5th December Night Depart Cairns
5th December Night Arrive Brisbane

Itinerary in Brisbane: Go on day tour to visit island of Fraser Island. Star gazing on beaches of Bribie Island. Visit Gold Coast for the fifth time.

Prior to departure to Singapore: Try hard not to miss Brisbane. Try hard not to think about wonderful memories in the land down under. Try hard not to think back to the first few days as a student here. Try hard not to miss Queen Street Mall too much. Try hard not to miss the nights of MacDonalds here. Try hard not to miss the time spent fooling around with friends. Try hard to board the plane home.

Singapore Airlines
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18th December Afternoon Depart Brisbane
18th December Night Arrive Singapore

Itinerary in Singapore: Eat mee pok. Eat roti prata. Eat chicken rice. Eat laksa. Spend time with parents. Spend time with grandma. Spend time with sisters. Spend time with friends. Go clubbing. Go ghost hunting. Go joy riding. Go find job.

Home

2005-09-16T02:15:00.000+08:00

Home is defined at Dictionary.com as an environment offering security and happiness or a valued place regarded as a place of origin.

This is the picture taken from Google's GoogleEarth software(11MB). A satelite view of what I may call home. It seems so near but yet so far.

The dot in red(bottom left) is where I am. The one in blue is QUT.

Where is the place you call home?

Search

2005-09-15T02:26:00.000+08:00

Amazing eh... I did a search (well.. multiple search actually) on Blogger's new search function which allows anyone to serch within Blogger's network of blogs.

I did a search on my name "Weida" - about 845 results.

I did a search on my sister's name "Yiming" - about 679 results.

I did a search on my younger sister's name "Yichun" - 148 results.

I did a search on my friend's name "Hanfai" -

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JUST 2 RESULTS!

Amazing, isn't it? It is like almost hitting the jackpot or getting a GoogleWhack! DJ, our belief have always been true. You are unique. Anyway, one of the results belongs to my sister's blog, the other from a chinese blog. You should try it too. Try searching for your names. You never know what funny characters share your namesake. I had multiple results on a certain "Johnny Weida". Haha, what a funny name. Is that guy a pirate or what? The name sounds like some crusader.

Try searching for your friend's names too. You might get some interesting results. Of course, you could search for your loved ones too. Some secret mysteries or unearthly truths could be revealed. And I have found a great way to get your blog high on the charts. Simply repeat this word on the top of your blog - "Xiaxue". OH MY! I risk getting my blog in the top 10,000 by typing that single word here!

Starry nite

2005-09-13T23:04:00.000+08:00

The night sky from Bribie Island.

The shooting stars effect is a result of the earth moving when the camera took its shot over a period of time.

Don't you wish for such a night sky every night? Being able to glance up towards the moon and count the stars. Looking at the hundreds of dots shining in perfect radiance. It is almost perfect if you could catch a few shooting stars in the process.

Life is bliss..

My email is weida@singnet.com.sg. Add me at your local MSN store.

Test

2005-09-12T17:30:00.000+08:00

Got a test on Wednesday 14.9.2005.

Studying for it now.

Looking forward to the holidays at the end of the year.

More updates about that in a while.. stay tune..

Toy in Tux

2005-09-10T12:51:00.000+08:00

This is the cutie which I hooked from the machine. In different shades of colour. I name it Mr Tuxe.

Fine Day

2005-09-08T22:43:00.000+08:00

My digital camera's rechargeable batteries let me down at the critical moment. I went to the arcade today. There is this hook-a-toy machine. The one where there is lots of soft toys in the machine and you have to navigate the 3 prong catcher to grab the soft toys. I successfully won myself a penguin. The penguin from Madagascar. Haha. Now I cant get it on film to show it to you guys. Wait till the charger fills up the batteries again.

RiverFire III

2005-09-07T22:01:00.000+08:00

Well well.. here are more pictures from that day's fireworks display.

Tuesday

2005-09-07T00:25:00.000+08:00

Was up late as usual. Woke up at around 2.45pm? That is the usual wake up time for non-school days, and I get many of those days too. About 5 in a week. So you can pretty much guess that I am enjoying my life here eh. Haha.

Waking up at such a late time means that I always start my day hungry. And the worse part is I don't have any food ready to go into my stomach. This is no Singapore. None of my favourite fishball mee pok to be seen. When I get back to Singapore, I will have fishball mee pok twice a day, 7 days a week till I puke fishballs. So I got realistic and when down to the Decks Seafood and got myself some fish snack. It is fastfood for emergency situations, and emergency situations occurs quite frequently here. Haha.

While munching on some fried fish in front of my laptop, up comes Icegal on my MSN. She messaged me even though my MSN status was on away. I wonder why people message others when their status is put to away/busy or whatever. Do they get angry if the other side don't reply? I mean, they are on away mode! Are they trying their luck? Perhaps the other side is like me, in front of their screens but just want to have a quiet moment while they chew on their first meal of the day.

Anyway I replied and we had a good chat. Played some games too. I had never played MSN games before. Especially untalented in the field of Bejeweled. Anyone can win me hands down. I was ok with Minesweeper though. Played a couple of time with the PC version. The MSN version is a little different and took me a couple of clicks to get things right. I simultaneously worked on my tutorial for tomorrow's class. It was a long tutorial with 8 long winded questions. But I had to do them to avoid going to the tutorial class empty handed.

It was already dinner time by the time I gave up on completing it. Of course dinner time takes on a different meaning if you have your first meal of the day at 3pm. 'Dinner' was settled at a Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant close to my place. Ordered some chicken and salty fish fried rice. Sounds funny? There are more exotic stuff out there that I wouldn't experiment with my stomach.

Back home after the meal. Nothing is happening on a Tuesday. The River Festival continues tomorrow with the closure of the bridge connecting my place to my school. It will bring some inconvenience if I were to return home during the mid-day break. I shall see about that when it comes.

Night time brings about a series of routine activities which includes but is not limited to printing lecture notes, cooking noodles for supper, watching movies on laptop, chatting on MSN, updating of blog and brushing of teeth. Tonight, I read a revived blog and was glad to know a particular someone had put things behind and moved forward.

Isn't life all about moving forward? What good does it do if you stand still?

DAmotional..

2005-09-05T22:05:00.000+08:00

Should I talk about love in this entry? Nah.. I think not.. I don't have much of a love life anyway. Having been a loner much of these times, I am not very experienced in the matters of the heart. The love stories I could weave out were probably inspired by other love stories or movie. So there could be little lovey dovey coming from me.

Should I talk about career then? I don't have much of a career too. I am just a student at present. I might have a career to talk about when I have graduated, embarked on a meaningful job and stays long enough to qualify as a career. Until then, I am really enjoying my carefree status as a student pursuing honors in the field of academics.

Should I talk about family and friends then? Surely I have a family and friends? It is just that I have not seen my family for some time. They remain in my heart though, and they remain there. Stuff between me and my friends remain private too. No disclosure to anyone else.

Shall I talk about school work? Boring stuff punctured by deadlines, projects, reports and tutorials. When the highlight of the topic is about missing missing lectures or attending boring tutorials, you could see the story rolling to an anti-climax. It is best that such situations be avoided and thus omitted of any blog entries.

Which leaves me with.............. nothing? Well, I shall end the entry then.

RiverFire Part II

2005-09-04T22:03:00.000+08:00

Part II of the fireworks display.

Been busy the entire week. Really have to be on top of things. First there was the test on Monday, then there was the report dued on Friday, not to mention the tutorials I had to do for last week and this week and the consulting proposal dued next month. Things are getting busy here. There is always time for enjoyment though. The fireworks broke the continuous stretch of school work, and did I mention the shooting stars I saw on Friday?

Friday night: My friend drove to this faraway island on the eastern coast of Australia. Bribie Island is about 90km north of Brisbane city. The island houses a national park and is accessible by car. We arrived at the beach of Woorim and my friend took photos of the night sky. The place was absolutely dark and the sky was filled with stars. Just then, he claimed he saw a shooting star. I didn't believe him until I saw one myself. In the next half hour that followed, we saw more than a couple of shooting stars, about 8 in total.

Make a wish? Yes of course. The shooting stars took us completely by surprise and I was absolutely fascinated by the sight of rocks burning in the Earth's atmosphere.

RiverFire

2005-09-04T01:10:00.000+08:00

River Festival 2005: RiverFire

Brisbane annual celebration of its river kick off on the third day of September 2005 with a spectacular display of fireworks and ariel display. Allow the pictures to speak for themselves.

901

2005-09-01T19:50:00.000+08:00

In another ten days, it will be four years since the September 11 attack. Time passes. Wounds heal. Buildings get reconstructed. Not many things in the world remain unchanged forever.

"If happiness is by choice, many had overlooked that option..."

What do you think?

"Time heals all wounds..."

I guess this sentence makes more sense to the majority. After you had chosen not to be happy, time helps to reverse your choice.

WHY!?

2005-08-31T01:41:00.000+08:00

Why do some people like to act 'chim' on their blog? I don't want to hold a dictionary when reading your blog!

Open Blog

2005-08-25T17:50:00.000+08:00

Opening Hours:

Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 3pm - 3am
Wednesday: Closed
Thursday: 3pm - 3am
Friday: 3pm - 3am
Saturday: 3pm - 3am
Sunday: 3pm - 3am

Close on Public holidays, birthdays, Valentine's Day.

Charges:

Cost per read: Free
Cost per post on chatbox: Free
Cost per request of content: A kiss on cheek for ladies, a bottle of Martell for gentlemen

Owner's obligation:

Provide updates on regular basis.
Provide interesting and engaging content.
Maintain well being of site.
Create platform for interactivity between readers.

Reader's obligation:

Respect owner's rights.
Respect other reader's rights.
Express meaningful, constructive and non-offensive views.
Support blogging community.

Smile!

2005-08-23T01:12:00.000+08:00

Random thought of the day: You know how you always smile when you see some friend whom you had not caught up with for a long time? That million dollar smile? Yeah, that is what I am talking about.

There is something I learnt in school these days and I want to share it with you all. I am taking this unit that focus on training students to be I.T. consultants. One of the core teachings in this unit is the art of negotiating. When listening to a problem always perform the follow in the listed order.

Listen

Acknowledge

Explore

Respond.

Listen stage refers to listening to what the speaker has to say. How many times have we not done that in a simple conversation? Acknowledge means to recognise what the speaker has said and tell them that you had heard what they have just said. The next step is a very important one and the usual cause of errors: Explore. If you miss this step, you risk making an incorrect response or one which is not accepted by the speaker. Explore around the problem. Explore the possibilities. Explore what is causing the problem. Explore the driving force behind the statement. Only have you explored the reasons behind do you then respond with a solution.

##End of consulting Lesson 1.

The Galleria Apartments

2005-08-21T13:23:00.000+08:00

That's the Galleria Apartments! Situated strategically between the Southbank parklands and the Goodwill Bridge, it is prime location for students and city lovers.

Foyer leading to the lift. Designer living.

View from 3rd storey corridor. That's the spa on the left, mini gym in the middle and sauna on the right.

Grand entrance leading to Unit 27 of the Galleria Apartments.

The entrance and exit to paradise, whichever way you see it.

From the kitchen. The narrow corridor leads from the house door. Round table turns into mahjong arena at night.

Living room. Sparsely furnished but neat and tidy.

360 degrees around the house.

The view from the balcony. I present to you, South Brisbane.

Photographs courtesy of www.latmo.com.

Entry 192

2005-08-18T01:05:00.000+08:00

I hate the army and its ways. I don't know what made me thought about it again, but something just stirred me up. I remembered how I almost got into DB, and how I did not. If I did, that would changed my life. Not a lot, but it will. I am now cruising on life's heavenly expressway and just passed exit 23 knowing mine wouldn't come till exit 49. Life's good.

NDP

2005-08-09T20:34:00.000+08:00

NDP == National Day Parade

I WANT TO COMPLAIN!!

.. in true Singaporean style complaining about inefficiencies back home.

Why is the link for Singapore's Nation Day Parade web-cast not working?! To think that the presence of the link was marketed as such a big happening in the country's national day celebration agenda. Anyway, you cannot say I did not try. I just couldn't access the link at the hour of the celebration. So it is for the first time since I started watching TV that I missed my country's national day celebration live.

For those whom had watched it, tell me about it.

Live Your Day.

2005-08-05T22:24:00.000+08:00

Two Days We Should Not Worry
By: Author Unknown

There are two days in every week, about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension. One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone forever.

The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with all its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and its poor performance; Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow, for it is yet to be born.

This leaves only one day, Today. Any person can fight the battle of just one day. It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down. It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad, it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring. Let us, therefore, Live but one day at a time.

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.. and the whole world revolves around me...

... that is Bondi Beach for you guys..

Pic-A-Boo

2005-08-05T00:28:00.000+08:00

If pictures speak a thousand words...

Below are pictures from Sydney. The first few are taken at Sydney Fish Market. A nice place to go if you enjoy fresh seafood. The rest of the photos are from the streets of Sydney.

BloggerDaz

2005-08-02T22:58:00.000+08:00

Do(s)

I do cherish my life.

I do love my family.

I do value my friends.

Don't(s)

I do not know how to cook.

I do not know when to give up.

I do not learn to lose.

Picture(s)

Beginnings. Ends.

2005-07-30T11:10:00.000+08:00

There comes a time when a blogger does not feel like blogging anymore. Bloggers leave their blogs unattended, alone to rot. They do not care. They have other things on their minds. They are concern about what is happening around their lives. Writing reports about their lives do not take on much importance. What happens after a while? They get bored with their social life. No one listens to them. They are not getting attention. their windows of expression are shut by bubbling egos around them. They decided to write on their blogs again. Blogs get undivided attention. No farting, no handphones going off - blogs allow expressions without interruptions.

For those that are interested in a (still) living blog, here are some more pictures.

Moving On

2005-07-28T20:54:00.001+08:00

You know... technology moves.. people moves.. the world keeps spinning.. nothing stops.. tide doesn't wait..

But people allow themselves to indulge in their moments of happiness..

Hmmm....

I think I am talking funny...

Anyway.. look at these photos I took in Sydney.

Memories.

2005-07-26T23:33:00.000+08:00

Oh my, I have not seen Singapore for ages and I don't miss it one single bit!

I love it here in Brisbane. That is the first time I had said it in such a whole-heartly fashion and that spells the end of any romance with my home country. What a sad proclamation!

Some prefer Singapore to Australia. Some think otherwise.

I find that I don't love my country anymore. No. Let me rephrase and elaborate. There are pros and cons of each country. I find that I hate the 'cons' of Singapore and found the 'cons' in Australia much more acceptable. Perhaps to be more specific - Brisbane, Australia.

I am not really exactly in love with the place here, but wait a minute, maybe I am!

Hmmm...

Perhaps having a limited time here makes me cherish the moments even more. I know I have to fly back at the end of the year. I know that would spell the end of 'love affair' here. I know I may never be back again for such a prolong duration.

Prior to my arrival, I was nervous, glitterly, scared and perhaps unsure. Now that I am settled, thriving in my surroundings and enjoying what the world around me has to offer, I feel that I am basking in happiness. I wake up on my bed and I am in paradise. I walked the bridge, treading on beds of roses, feeling the wonderful rays on my skin. Life cannot get any better.

All and said, school tomorrow. A morning class. Another opportunity to tour around dreamland.

Well..

2005-07-24T02:02:00.000+08:00

I suppose nothing last forever...

Old Friend. New Friend.

2005-07-23T21:59:00.000+08:00

I was checking on my Friendster account just now when I received this message from a young lady whom we had chat before. That little conversation took place almost a year ago and I had forgotten about her because we had stopped messaging after a while.

This time, she messaged me because she had stumbled upon the old messages she had kept throughout her conversation with me(and many others I assumed). She said in her message that there was a significant amount of dialogue in our exchanges and wondered how I was doing now. Indeed, things have changed and the situation can not be any more different a year ago.

A year ago, I was counting down to the days to the end of service. The news of a two months reduction in National Service was not out yet and I had nine months left on my term. Now, the countdown timer to my present situation reads five months. A very important five month nonetheless.

Back to the girl. She aspires to be a professional actress. She loves acting. Be it stage performance or a commercial shoot, she loves it. She has worked on projects with commercial companies. And oh, did I mention she is only eighteen years of age? Well, I wish her success and all the best to her ambitions.

Sis && Bro in Sydney.

View of Sydney.

Never Too Late

2005-07-19T17:52:00.000+08:00

Greetings. How is everyone today? I think so.

I have moved into my new house and is staying comfortably in a new environment. My new place is a new and clean two bedroom unit situated near the bus and train station. Restuarants can be found below and around my unit. The cinema is a street away and there are free BBD pits along the river bank. Sounds like a nice place? You bet.

This is a busy month for me and that explains for the lack of updates. No excuses though but just want to let everyone know the blog is still alive. The broken links where pictures should be are a result of the free picture hosting site moving on to other stuff. No worries. I will find a new site to host my pictures.

I have been to Sydney and back, unscathed. The thousand mile trip was nothing short of adventure. We lost our direction, crashed into a kangaroo and smashed a lamp post along the way. Yea, that would have been pretty exciting wouldn't it? Unfortunately, that did not happen. It was smooth sailing to Sydney and almost as good back, except for a traffic jam which set us back by an hour. The pictures would be up shortly. Good things are worth the wait.

Here's a teaser first. Town of Ballina. Taken at one of our pitstops along the way.

School has started and this semester promises to be more challenging than the previous one. The subjects chosen are more interesting, difficult and a level up from the last.

Say Cheese!

2005-06-29T03:16:00.000+08:00

It's the holidays! Rejoice with a toast of the finest champange!

Semester one's examination officially ended yesterday. The paper was not as difficult as it could be. Prior to the examination, a guy whom had studied the full course of the degree told us that 'Database Systems' is the most difficult paper in the Bachelor of Information Technology course. I have confidence of passing it; and if I do, I feel that I can tackle any units in the next semester.

Alright, enough of school.

Going to Sydney!

Sister coming to town!

Moving house!

House-warming party!

What a wonderful list of events coming up in the three of fun and enjoyment. i will be moving to the wonderful SouthBank. The unit is a two bedroom unit in a newly built apartment. The rent is more expensive but it is worth the price. There will be a house warming party scheduled on the 15th of July. There will be free flow of champange, alcohol and wonderful food. To those that could not make the party, savour at the photographs to be posted.

Sister is going to come on Thursday and with her a prized item that has eluded us for some time now. A complete Singapore-style mahjong set! Turn my house to a mahjong house anyone!?

We will hit the road next Monday on a planned seven days trip to the wonderful city of Sydney. Lots of photographs can be expected of in the month of July. The 2,500kilometres trip will consist of a few nights at motels and pit-stops along the way.

Stay tuned guys. Maximum tuned.

Smilez

2005-06-26T05:47:00.000+08:00

No updates for sometime...

Nothing much to say. Examinations still underway. One more paper to go. The most difficult yet.

My sister is coming on Thursday; and I am going to Sydney on the 4th. Lets hope for the best traffic and weather possible.

BloggerMania

2005-06-17T03:39:00.000+08:00

Dear Diary,

I woke up at 4pm today. It has been my waking up timing for a few weeks now. The only other times I step out of my bed before 4pm were when I was having examinations. I have my lunch at 6pm and my dinner at 1am. I find that unhealthy too, but it is difficult to tune back my biological clock. I shall leave it as it is and let nature takes it's course.

Thrusday was a cold day. Hitting 12 degrees at one stage. Today is going to be even colder, dropping to 7 degrees according to the weather report. I am lucky to have my heater by my side.

My heart is as cold as my feet....

Still love-less in a foreign land. I found plently of friendship to make up for it though. I think of my friends back home too; missing them ever so much. Whenever I feel lost I just have to think of them, and my family as well. Going to see sister real soon. She had better bring the mahjong set over. I feel thrilled just thinking of the trip down to Sydney, but friends are always at the back of my mind.

I do many things differently here. Walking to school is something new to me. Staying just a hundred metres away from the school gates is definitely refreshing. I can wake up 10 minutes before class starts and still make it in time. Staying in school till 4am is something I had never done before too. Staying in school till 4am for consecutive nights was unthinkable but I am doing that now on a regular basis.

Wrapped tight in a black jacket, I make my way down the streets of Brisbane city. It is not a very big city. It is about the size of Orchard. I used to find the place very foreign, but now I feel comfortable roaming around with my clique.

There are ups and downs. I would not like to share the bad times with you Diary. I would rather keep them for myself. Hot water is still not up yet. I have to bathe in the swimming pool's toliet. The sauna is not bad though. Running on electricity, the place looks decent enough to invite my gang over.

I am now choosing the units I have to take next semester. Shall I take a theorical subject or an assignment based one? Shall I choose something I like or something I can score it? I have choosen a mixture of both. There is still plently of time to change the selection. Lets wait until i come back from Sydney. The next examination paper is Principles of Information Management. Not the most difficult of paper in this round. That honor would go to the last paper.

Take care Diary, we shall meet again soon.

Haiz

2005-06-16T01:17:00.000+08:00

You humans don't understand, you have two arms.

Maximum Tune 2

2005-06-15T02:01:00.000+08:00

This is the best song from the arcade game Maximum Tune 2.

Download Maximum Tune 2's This Is My Destiny by Yuzo Koshiro

This is the favourite song among the racers in my clique. Try the download. It is relatively fast and there are more songs in the Original Sound Track (OST).

The complete list is (cut and paste into your browser, the download will start automatically):

http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/101 Entry (Maxi1 Version).mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/102 Rival And Course Select (Maxi1 Version).mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/103 Maximum Acceleration.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/104 Feel The Passion.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/105 Beyond The Horizon.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/106 Driver's Delight.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/107 Atheist on the Highway.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/108 Decoration For The dement.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/109 Fun-Loving Spirit.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/110 Stream Of Tears.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/111 Speed Fanatic.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/112 Total Terror.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/113 Acid Runner.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/114 Destination Blackout.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/115 Blue Blazes.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/116 Result (Maxi1 Version).mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/117 Until The Excitement Cools Down.mp3

http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/201 Opening Theme.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/202 Entry (Maxi2 Version).mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/203 Rival And Course Select (Maxi2 Version).mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/204 Overdrive Neurotransmitters.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/205 Nip And Tuck Race.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/206 Upbeat Gas Junkie.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/207 Unlawful Temptation.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/208 This Is My Destiny.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/209 Highway Obsession.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/210 Smoldery Guest.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/211 Adrenaline Blowouts The Fear.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/212 Ghost In The Resonance.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/213 Nothing Can Live Forever.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/214 Another Dimension.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/215 Result (Maxi2 Version).mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/216 Last Utopia.mp3
http://www.sera-chan.com/mp3/Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack/217 Holy Land Anthem.mp3

In school

2005-06-12T23:52:00.000+08:00

I am in school now.

I was studying for my Web Applications examination. I had just completed two sets of multiple questions posted on the intranet by my lecturer. That two excercise took me more an hour to finish. I referred to the lecture notes for assistance.

Still no water to my unit. What a sad day. I had to brush my teeth in the toliet at the swimming pool. If the apartments do not have a swimming pool facility, what am I going to do?

Cant be bothered to think much(or format a really nice entry). So you can see the entry is extremely fragmented. I would be going to Sydney this July holidays. I hope I do. The plans are not concrete yet but has a high chance of successful execution. I am going to rent a car and drive all the way down the Pacific Motorway. 1,000 kilometres of road.

Vroom! Vroom! There goes a crazy wagon on the loose. Look at the driver! He looks so cool!

Haha.. ok... so the last bit was a little rubbish.

I am going to stay at Ben's place. Nice of him to let me crash into his apartment. Thanks.

How is the weather back in Singapore? I miss my favourite mee pok. With nice, big and delicious fishballs. Yum yum.

Friends? Yes, I miss you all too. So why don't you all buy the next air ticket to see me during the July holidays? Ok... that is a little unlikely. But well... we will meet again this December. Maybe a little party at my place after I am back.

Back to the books now.

What the hell

2005-06-12T04:19:00.000+08:00

I would say one of the most significant element that is missing in my life is love. I dreamt of 'Sex(I mean Love) in the City' but that is becoming to be quite distant now.

Think that I am destined to be single; and I think that is not the first time I mentioned this on my blog.

Super bored now....

It is examination period. <-- I wonder how many times I am going to emphasize that.

Something bad just turned my worse day to the worst. The water container that holds the heated water to my unit burst! When you are unlucky, the pigeon you breed will grow up to be a hen. So we have to turn off the water supply to stop the leakage and now my house is out of water- in a modern city like Brisbane!!

It doesn't rain but pours!

How am I going to brush my teeth??? How am I going to bathe??? I guess I have to use the shower room at my unit's swimming facilities. Thank God for that.

The repairman would not come till Tuesday because they do not work on Sundays and Monday is a public holiday (Queen's birthday, what the hell... no offence but why on this day when I am out of water!?).

Maybe there will be a blackout tomorrow or what while I am studying. That would complete my day for sure.......

Enterprise Systems

2005-06-06T21:55:00.000+08:00

(1) How does an Enterprise Systems(ES) create value in business?

Integrate firm's activities.

Employs use of best practices.

Enabes organisational standardisation.

Eliminates information asymmetries.

Provides online and real-time information.

Allows simultaneous access to same data for planning and control.

(2) Define Requirement Analysis.

A review of system requirements for organisation models, artefacts and processes.

Requirements are determined by the size, specific industry standards and who is doing the analysis.

Organisations use that set of requirements to determine how well different pieces of softwaremeet their needs.

3) State 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages of Requirement Analysis.

Advantages: (1) Generates a list of requirements that can be used to determine how well different pieces of software meet their needs. (2) Provides a basis for communication between staff of different departments. Generates better understanding of the different business processes in other departments.

Disadvantages: (1) Expensive in terms of time, money and human resources involved in conducting the analysis. (2) Documentation may be too large for vendors to response. Those that response may be the least popular vendor.

(4) Define Gap Analysis

It is the comparision between 'as is'' and the 'to be' analyses to determine what gaps exist between what the company has now and what they decided they need. Identifying gaps enable a firm to determine what modifications might be necessary for software to meet the requirements of the company. Identifying of those modifications could be used to better realise the costs - beyond the software - of a specific choice.

5) List 3 factors ignored by both methods.

Flexibility: The increased flexibility of the software may compromise embedded best practices.

Installation time: This issue may not be addressed until after the software selection phase.

Cost: The total amount of money spent may exceed the budget for the project.

Countdown

2005-06-05T19:58:00.000+08:00

6 more days to the first examination paper. 5 more months to the end of my degree in QUT. 4 more papers before my July holidays. 3 friends for companionship. 2 more hours to Monday. 1 more hour before I have my dinner.

A New Month

2005-06-01T22:34:00.000+08:00

It has been some time since an entry with any such of informative details about myself. I have just submited all my assignments that are due and completed the last test before my semester's examinations.

Now is the point when I need to study real hard to make my holidays a justified one. The past three months had been a mixture of fun, hardwork and discovery, and the next one to be the moment of truth; the definition of my existence in this part of the world now.

Recap of events from weeks before:

I was in school for six consecutive nights from 19th May to 24th May to do my assignments. Spanning over a weekend and an FA Cup final, I was in the school's lab to make the last dash against my assignment's deadline. It was by no means an easy feat. I would start work at 10pm and end at around 3am everyday. Completion of the day's work would be rewarded by a trip to the MacDonald's that is open 24 hours everyday (except for Monday mornings, which we discover at our supper's expenses).

In the lab, we had chosen our faculty's lab among many labs that open round the clock. There is this particular small printing room that does not allow students to stay for more than 10 minutes on ends. The room was meant for a quick print and go purpose. It is usually empty after 11pm. The three of us would close the door and hog the room. Playing music at full blast from our laptops, the time went by pretty fast.

On to more recent times:

I have been playing mahjong recently. At $10 per hour, me and my friends played at a cafe-cum-billard saloon-cum-gaming centre call CyberCity. Weifen and gang beware, I also trained here, so don't expect you all to trash me when I am back. I know you all also been training frequently. We shall see who is the best when I am back!

On to more serious stuff.

I am sick for the past two days. Down with a running nose and cough, I hope things would clear by the weekend. I have to start preparations for my examinations soon.

From left: Me, Jasper, Kelvin

I went to a suburb call Sunny Bank today. I was suppose to meet up early for lunch at Sunny Bank but I did not manage to wake up early. Waking up at 3pm is the norm now, what with all the late nights out. The trip to Sunny Bank was suppose to look for mahjong tiles and Taiwanese hair saloon. We found several saloons but no mahjong tiles. The price of haircuts there aren't any cheaper than in the city though. One hairstylist quoted $33 for a cut and wash package. Not very tempting to me, but my friend whom wanted a haircut was comfortable with the price. Unlucky him lost his Adidas sunglasses on the trip though. The sunnies cost him $220.

I took the CityCat for the first time today. The CityCat is a form of river public transport. The small vessel brings commuters up and down the Brisbane River. I took the ferry down to the University of Queensland when I met a friend for dinner. The view on the ferry is amazing. It is definitely better than the Singapore River. Though I had never taken the ferry down Singapore River before.

The river follows parallel to the main road inland. The lights on either sides of the bank presents an enchanting view of Brisbane's nigth scenery. From skyscrapers to the riverside apartments, feast your eyes on the captivating sights the city has to offer. The ferry cruises down the calm river and stops at designated jetties to offload and welcome new passengers. Fancy going to work by boat! That is a new one to comprehend..

I am sick

2005-05-31T15:37:00.000+08:00

Officer down....

I am blue.

2005-05-25T02:46:00.000+08:00

With assignments. With test. With emotions.

I have been in the school's computer laboratory for the past 5 consecutive nights. I am spending my nights doing my assignments which are due at the end of the week. I find that I enjoy doing my school work in school. The intensity on the students' faces around me while they rush their assignments makes me feel like doing work myself. At home, I do not get this kind of pressure. There is just too little motivation to produce any kind of quality work.

I am now in the laboratory finishing the last bit on one of my assignments. I just had my supper at the 24hour MacDonalds. I had McChicken burger. Yum yum..

This may sound like simple things satisfying simple minds, but there is no need to get too complicated. Look what happened to Michael Jackson.. ok.. so there is no obvious link, but you do get my idea don't you?

It may be a while before the next update. I want you guys to know that this blog is going on. No more April Fool jokes again. Honest.

Busy May

2005-05-18T22:37:00.000+08:00

It is no coincidence that the lack of updates coincide with the last weeks of my semester. It is crunch time right now. Three more weeks to my first paper. What am I going to do? Ace it of course. But well, easier said than done. Back to the books now. More updates in a while.

Credibility

2005-05-12T21:10:00.000+08:00

What is the similarity between Bill Gates and Walt Disney?

Both changed the world with a mouse.

Sunshine Coast Trip

From left: Shawn, Jasper, Me. Taken inside Pancake House, though the background is dark you cant see a thing.

The worst ah bengs you can find in Brisbane City. Jasper on the extreme left studies in QUT, Mechanical Engineering. Shawn is in the same class as me.

Angie on the extreme left. Studies in University of Queensland, Business faculty.

Hey hey hey..

Our stopover en route back to the City from Sunshine Coast.

Yes, we were having a nice supper. It is 3:30am.

Pictures not in chronological order. The newest face is Edward in the black coloured shirt.

Makes you wonder who is taking the photos huh? We had a tripod.

Angie & me

Exam Timetable

2005-05-11T02:01:00.000+08:00

I got my examinations time table.

11 June 8:30am Enterprise Systems
15 June 5:30pm Web Applications
24 June 1.30pm Principle of Information Management
28 June 1:30pm Database Systems

It is kind of sucky. I start my first paper on the first Saturday of the examination period and ends on the last day of the examination period. What is worse is that my house mates end their papers earlier than me! Oh my... I am going to have a hell of a time after they are done.

Dropping Temperatures

2005-05-10T09:08:00.000+08:00

My heart is as cold as my feet.

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Having a good laugh:

I was having a good laugh on my friend's blog as usual. The blog doesn't belong to anyone of you here (I am sure of that). Her blog (yes, it's a lady) is just so funny! She chose to use all these big words thinking it would make her entries sound more sophisticated when her basic grammer and vocabulary is all wrong. One thing about blogging is that you don't want your user to carry a dictionary when reading your blog.

That reminds me of the 'Speak Good English' campaign in Singapore featuring Gurmit Singh. The slogan for the advertisement was "You don't have to use big words to speak good english." I totally agree.

Back to the funny blog. She was trying to make her ordinary stories sound big by having these big words to describe the situation. That is ok, you would think that she is a very good writer, until you fumbled on some basic grammatical errors. Hey, she knows the meaning of those words doesn't she? Then why is she commiting such an amatuerish mistake? Her entries are always good for a laugh. I am not trying to be mean here but just sharing my experience.

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Having a good cry:

I think I would never have a grilfriend in the near future. Haizz... it is so sad. I think I am not exactly boyfriend material. I think I repel girls like the same sides of a magnet. It is irritating and uncanny too. Why do I possess such powers? I thought I am a babe magnet. .... I hear some laughter going around..

Anyway, I feel that I am designated to be single all my life. I might as well emigrate to the Himalayas or something. I would be happy enough playing 'Pinball' on my laptop. I would live in a cottage high up on the mountain with a couple of sheep as my best mates. It is green and endless more greens around me. I would lie on a bed of daisies and bask in the sun alone, undisturbed. What a life I am dreaming of. Come join me, but live half a mile away in your own cottage please.

Results of a different kind

2005-05-07T03:06:00.000+08:00

I feel that my character has improved over the course of my tour here. It is in a different environment that i got to see what I am, through the eyes of other people.

I have become more tolerant of the itsy bitsy stuff that would normally irritate me. I have learnt to control my temper better. I have a better organisation of my time, though that still has much room for improvement. I have seen my life better than ever.

It is all about me in this entry isn't it? Time to ask about my friends out there. How are you all? Have you been leading a good life? My departure has different impact, if any, on different groups of people. Some misses me, some doesn't feel a thing. I do not know. My family misses me. That is what I hope. To my sisters whom may read this entry, I miss you two!

Here I am far away. Look at the map and the distance between the two dots that point to our locations. I can only work hard towards my study and hope that my effort would earn me the right to see you all soon.

Visits

2005-05-04T23:44:00.000+08:00

My family is coming to visit me next next week. I have been getting a series of visits recently. First it was Shuhui whom came for ten days. Then Veronica was here too. The next familiar faces I am going to see are my parents' and sisters'.

I better finish all my assignments before they touch down in Brisbane, else I might rush the job or have little time for my family or even worse, both.

Lets kick some ass.

Questions

2005-05-03T12:38:00.000+08:00

Who do you turn to in times of doubt and perplexity?
Are you waiting to be discovered?
How long will one live?
Is there a boundary to the universe?

Submit your answers to these questions to weida@singnet.com.sg and win a Sony Vaio.

Lovey Dovey

2005-05-02T13:08:00.000+08:00

What's in a name?

A rose by any other name, would smell as sweet.

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The world has its own way of how things work and often defies odds. I have ths friend in Singapore whom I had never met ever since graduation in secondary school. Now that I am in Australia studying, she flew over for a holiday here in Brisbane. I met her yesterday for a night out at the clubs.

The width of the island called Singapore is about 46 kilometres. The distance between that island and the city I am currently in is about 5000 kilometres. Why did we not make the short trip to meet up but instead have to go the hard way of saying hi?

It is by coincidence that she had to come to Brisbane of all cities in Australia for her holiday. It was a one in a thousand chance that I am going to study aboard after my polytechnic. A friend I did not see in tiny Singapore I met up with in wild wild Down-under. What were the odds?

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Do things with the lowest odds have any chance in the first place at all? I guess if the answer to that question is yes, then the consolation to my quest for love has arrived. I love to listen to love songs in the cafes here. It seems like they are consoling hopeless-in-love me.

What are the odds of me finding love here in a foreign land with friends less than four months old and strangers around me not understanding my language when I couldn't do so back home with established relationships, extreme familarity of the environment and everyone speaking the same language?

The odds seem small doesn't it? I guess I stand a better chance at my web applications project...

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I am listening to the fourth song in Jolin's newest album. It is a love song. The time now is 5pm and the sky is turning dark. It had rained during the day. Are rainy days the loneliest for singles? I am looking out at my apartment's window into the sky and wondering if it is the same spot I had stared into a year back when I was in camp.

I had counted the stars in the hope that it would bring a little something. I realised that is useless. The stark truth is, you got to work towards what you wished for. 'Wishing upon a star' is not going to get you what you want.

Fear Factor

2005-05-01T03:33:00.000+08:00

Confronting Your Fears

I am typing this post at 5.35am in the morning. I just came back from a night's out with my mates after watching Chelsea beat Bolton 2-0 to claim the Premiership title.

I am now in my room and could hear some muffled sounds coming from the living room. It is in the dead of the night and hearing funny noises coming from your apartment is not the best of situations to be in. i couldn't get to sleep while that noise remains a mystery in my head, and it is not helped with Karen's words still fresh in my head. It is a dilemma isn't it? What do you think my choice is?

Do I

(1) Leave the lights on and cover myself with my blanket while trying to sleep.

OR

(2) Confront my greatest fear and fascination of the unknown and check out the muffled sounds that is coming from the living room.

Well... what would you do?

Think about it..

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Done?

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Have you decided on your decision and answer to my question?

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Here comes my decision...

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I chose the second option of checking out the funny noise.

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The sound is from the radio coming out of my housemate's speakers. Whew....

He forgot to off the radio. Why didn't I hear the sound when I came home? It is most probably because I was too tired and just wanted to jump into bed. Anyway, the moral of the story is to confront your fears and it will go away. Run from them and they will appear larger. I hope you had a better night than I did.

HI~

2005-04-30T11:55:00.000+08:00

I got the most unexpected call from someone yesterday - Karen~!

Oh my, oh my...

and I got the most unexpected news from her too - that the place I am staying in is haunted!

Oh my, oh my...

Results

2005-04-29T10:22:00.000+08:00

Web Applications Report: 16/20

I just got back the result of my report for a web based subject. Frankly, I was quite disappointed with the result. I was expecting something higher (maybe 17.5). The result of the report is to be combined with the web site to form 20 percent of the unit's total marks. The report is group work (as is the web site), and I was in charge of the report. That means the entire report was done by me. The difference in marks was down to a few reasons.

Reason 1: The marker. The marker for the report and web site is different. The marker for the site is the Australian tutor whom doesn't specialised in web-based studies. The marker for the report is a Singaporean PhD student whom does .Net and some other IT related units. He was much more strict with his allocation of marks. He was one of the tutor for the Web Application unit. He was much better though. He stand in a practical lesson in the absence of our Aussie tutor and by chance, got to know that he had marked our report. He told us the errors that costed us points and recommended some solutions to us. Effort appreciated.

In summary, the two marks combined, I scored 17.25 out of a possible 20 percent.

Database Systems Test 1: 17/22

I just got back the result of my Database Systems test today too. I must say that 17/22 is an unexpected result. Allow me to explain.

In the first eight tutorials for that class, I only did the first two. That was when I was very enthusiastic about studying in Australia. In subsequent tutorials, I only printed the questions and waited for the answer. Singaporean classmates around me did their homework conscientiously and I was amazed by their consistencies. That did little to pile any sort of pressure on little lazy me. I simply waited for the lecturer to spoon feed me.

My best mate Shawn, whom is my project mate for 3 other subjects (no projects for Database Systems), chose to revisit all the tutorial questions in preparation for the test. I chose to do all the quizzes the lecturer put up on the school's online blackboard. I did not attempt a single question from the tutorials in my preparation for the test. That would sound like a disaster for anyone aiming to excel in the test and it felt like a disaster to me too. I simply could not be bothered to do the tutorial questions! They were too difficult, long-winded, required much calculations and too boring! The quizzes in contrast were easier, to the point, require little calculations and fun to do!

It is human nature to choose the easier path isn't it? I did all the questions in the quizzes while Shawn finished tutorial 1 to 8. In the test, all the questions were taken from the quizzes. Point taken? I scored 17 while Shawn managed 13. Firstly, I must admit that the score is flattering. Secondly, I think my effort do not deserve such a score. Thirdly, I would like to thank my mother whom has always supported me through times of difficulties even on occasions when I do not deserve it.

Mom, thank you.

ANZAC Day

2005-04-27T22:43:00.000+08:00

It was Australia New Zealand Army Corps day on 25th April. It is in memory of the 11000 Australian and New Zealand soldiers who died in World War 1.

"I swear by the souls of the dead ANZAC soldiers!"

That is the cry in memory of those whom perished 90 years ago.

Anyway, there has been little else happenning in this little city of mine this week. More projects are coming up for me. One of them is a 3500 words report. I like writing reports; my forte.

There is a practical class tomorrow. The one I mentioned on the chatterbox about the tutor not knowing anything. I am pondering whether to make the 2 hour class or not. It is really not worth the effort attending it. I don't learn a single thing out of that guy. The practical is simply an excuse to get our ass out of our beds and to school to do our assignments. Well, I would attend the class anyway. It cost about $100 per hour of school time. Plus, I had printed and bind the practical notes already. So well... (shrugs shoulder) morning class tomorrow~!

Just Off The Mark

2005-04-24T09:59:00.000+08:00

I just got back the first result on my assignments. A cool 18.5 marks over a possible 20, and given by the tutor I talked about in the chatterbox! Well done mate!

That result gave me more confidence in the quality of the assignments I am producing. Though that is a good start, nothing's taken for granted. Test on Tuesday. Another chance to build on my flying start to university life!~

Take care folks.